Lowes, the hardware mega-store, made an early December Dilemma appearance when its Holiday 2007 catalog advertised "Family Trees," not "Christmas Trees." The American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization, sent out an action alert to its members, prompting Lowes to email the chain en masse, and ask why the term "Christmas" is not used to describe the trees. "Lowe's evidently did not want to offend any non-Christians, therefore they replaced "Christmas tree" with "Family tree." Of course, if Christians are offended that is evidently ok," the alert said.
Within days, Lowes responded, saying that the oversight was a "breakdown in its proofing process," an editorial error that got missed in the catalog's publication process. Lowes reassured the AFA that magazine and television advertisements, as well as print flyers, refer to the trees as Christmas trees.
A visit to Lowes' website reveals that in some cases, they may be trying for a middle ground: this item description simply calls it a Saratoga Spruce Pre-Lit Tree, while a similar item listed here calls itself a Saratoga Spruce Pre-Lit Christmas Tree.
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A Christmas tree by any other name . . .
I think Christmas trees should be called Christmas trees. No other religion puts up this type of tree at Christmas time so I can't see how Lowe's was worried about offending other religions. It must have just been a printing mistake. At the same time I don't think calling it a holiday tree is necessary offensive to Christians either.